The next Traffic Skills 101 course taught by League-certified Cycling Instructors (LCI’s) is scheduled for February 17 and 20. You need to register in advance. The February course will meet at CSULB Pyramid Annex, (Atherton, between Bellflower and Palo Verde).
For details and to register online, click EDUCATION at the top of the longbeachcyclists.com web page.
January 31st at 6:00 pm, join us at Portfolio Coffee House on Fourth at Junipero for an additional opportunity to discuss interesting ideas found in Jeff Mapes’ book Pedaling Revolution.
The Long Beach Cyclists Reading Group, organized by Kevin Flaherty, meets monthly to discuss books and news of interest to the local cycling community.
Click EVENTS at the top of the page, and scroll to the January 31st calendar entry to view a map pointing to Portfolio.
Click on this must-read letter. It’s from Russ Roca. Russ writes to friends and to all those who look forward to Long Beach becoming an even better city than it already is.
Charles Gandy is the City of Long Beach Mobility Coordinator. Gandy is a nationally known cycling advocate who for the next year or two has made Long Beach home while contracted to assist the City of Long Beach in its efforts to make Long Beach a better, more livable city for all.
A League Certified Instructor (LCI) leads traffic skills courses for cyclists and other road users. Several members of Long Beach Cyclists are LCIs. Long Beach offers Traffic Skills 101 at CSULB Pyramid Annex. Click EDUCATION at the top of the longbeachcyclists.com web page for more details and to find out how to sign up for an upcoming course.
Russ Roca and Laura Crawford have been on a cross-country cycling adventure called Path Less Pedaled since August of 2009. They send us updates, this time from Arizona. For several years, Russ made a living here in Long Beach as the Eco-Friendly Bicycling Photographer. Daily, Russ was seen cycling here and there around Long Beach and beyond on his cargo bike—a long bike with an enormous rack to carry lots of specialized photo equipment. Many of Russ’ photographs have been featured in the District weekly and other publications. Both Russ and Laura were active participants in Long Beach Cyclists and cycling advocacy when they lived in Long Beach.
Russ and Laura, we send you a ‘hello’ from Long Beach, California! We miss you. We wish you continued safe travels and more wonderful adventures!
BikeTalk can be heard any time by scrolling through the KPFK Pacifica Radio Audio Archives of recent, previously-aired programs and clicking BikeTalk.
Tune in Tuesday evening, December 29, 11pm, for the first live broadcast of BikeTalk on KPFK, 90.7 FM. Bike culture, politics, technology, sport and friendliness. BikeTalk has been a weekly internet show for several months already, and Tuesday evening will be its first on-air broadcast.
BikeTalk celebrates bike rides, bicycle collectives, activists, artists, commuters, enthusiasts, professional cyclists, inventors and repairers, and, of course, the bicycle itself as an alternative human-powered mode of transportation. Hosted by Nick Richert and guests, including Jim C of Orange 20 Bikes, Steve Bowers, and Jim Bledsoe and Eric Potter of Bicycle Kitchen.
The first live broadcast is Tuesday evening, December 29, 11pm. You can hear BikeTalk live every Saturday, 10am-Noon, at www.killradio.org. And you can download all nineteen previously recorded shows at www.kpfk.org. Click Programs at the top of the page, then click Audio Archives, and scroll for BikeTalk. Or click List of Programs, All Programs in the left margin to find the BikeTalk general description and contact information. Click on Program Highlights this week to see the announcement and details about the December 29th broadcast.
On Thursday, November 19th, Jeff Mapes will visit Long Beach. This is a fantastic opportunity to discuss how cycling is impacting our city.
Mapes is the author of Pedaling Revolution—How Cyclists are Changing American Cities. Mapes has much to say about making Long Beach streets more ‘livable.’ With humor and insight, Pedaling Revolution looks at vehicular cycling, and examines road use and various kinds of separate facilities. Mapes looks at what other cities are doing and provides us with many ideas and considerations that we might incorporate or adapt here in Long Beach.
Bicycle with flag illustration by David Drummond.
On November 19th, Jeff Mapes will meet locally at three locations, first at lunch time, then in the afternoon, and then in the early evening.
At noon, Mapes will be downtown for a brown bag lunch, and will talk with a ‘professional’ focus—How is Long Beach measuring up to its goal of becoming the best bike city in America. (Click on EVENTS at the top of the Long Beach Cyclists web page to view the calendar for location and specifics.)
At 2:30 PM, Mapes will be at CSULB (see EVENTS for specifics), and will participate in a lively discussion with an ‘academic’ focus—Social and political changes, and how cyclists are reshaping American cities.
At 6:00 PM, Mapes will be at the Long Beach Museum of Art, and will meet with the public with a ‘community’ focus—What works, what are our concerns, how might we get there.
“In a world of growing traffic congestion, expensive oil, and threats of cataclysmic climate change, a grassroots movement is carving out a niche for bicycles on the streets of urban cityscapes. In Pedaling Revolution, Jeff Mapes explores the growing urban bike culture that is changing the look and feel of cities across the U.S.”
Welcome to another exciting edition of “What’s Wrong With This Picture?!”
Your hosts for this show are two of Long Beach’s very own bicycle-mounted Police.
This photo was taken on E. Broadway near Promenade, looking East.
So, how many things can YOU find wrong with this picture?
Click for larger image
As you know, Long Beach is looking for a new Chief of Police.
With the city’s commitment to become the most bicycle-friendly city in the nation – it would be ideal if the new Chief had a sense of what his officers could do to make Long Beach safer and more enjoyable for cyclists, and to set the best example possible to citizens and residents.
With that in mind, what questions would YOU have for the new Chief?
From BikePortland.Org:
Responding to last month’s biking momma drive-thru debacle, Burgerville has announced that they’ll welcome people on bikes to each of their 37 drive-thrus (which are from this day forward known as cycle-thrus!).
The company also announced that they have already begun adding signs to “alert drivers and bicyclists to safety precautions for bicycle access”. Burgerville’s Chief Cultural Officer Jack Graves will also be on hand to discuss their “expanded bike policy”.
In other biking-in-drive-thru news, Portlander Brad Reber says he got refused at his bank today on liability grounds (the teller told him he “might get hit”). Will banks follow Burgerville’s lead on this issue? We hope and we’ll see.
It is true that bicycles are not vehicles, but those on them ARE drivers – the law says so.
Whilst driving a bicycle, you have all the rights and are subject to all the provisions applicable to the driver of a vehicle .
Wouldn’t not serving you be vehicle discrimination? Why not. I’m calling it.
A recently received letter from a bike commuter in Long Beach:
On Sunday morning, I got on my bicycle to ride to the Farmer’s Market. I was riding down 2nd Street in Belmont Shore – in the right lane, in lane, with traffic – a right that is provided to me by California State Vehicle Code #21202 (and which also happens to be the safest place for a cyclist to travel) – when a moron of a man in a black SUV came up behind me honking, screaming and cursing me as if I was the devil incarnate and the root of all evil in the world.
Fuming over this encounter, I began to realize that the 20 or so other cyclists around me were riding on the sidewalk, in the gutter, in the wrong direction – or just about any of the other ways you could ride that would get you killed. And, it dawned on me that it’s no wonder this moron man in the SUV didn’t understand that I was riding where I was supposed to ride – because so few other people on bicycles ride in a correct and safe manner.
What’s the answer here? Let’s start with some education programs – for drivers AND cyclists. Let’s put in bicycle facilities that illustrate that cyclists belong in the street and that don’t continue to reinforce the mistaken notion that bikes be relegated to the sidewalk and beach path. Let’s stop pissing away people’s tax dollars on one-time festivals and actually do the hard work that it takes to make Long Beach the bicycle-friendly town that city representatives claim they want to create.
Our friend, Colin Bogart, from LACBC put up a great post recently regarding bikes and that thing that prevents us from descending into a total state of nature…the LAW.
Here’s a juicy excerpt, but be sure to read the whole insightful post here.
First, California Vehicle Code 21200 clearly gives cyclists the right to ride in the roadway. This bit of information is sometimes a surprise to non-cyclists and is important to remember. CVC 21200 means that a cyclist has just as much right to use the street as any motorist behind the wheel of an automobile (except for locations like freeways where bicyclists and pedestrians are prohibited). So, on a given street where bicycles are not prohibited, a cyclist has just as much right to roadway access as any motorist.
Second, there are special conditions that apply to cyclists. This is because cyclists usually travel at a speed that is slower than the motorized traffic on the road. This is addressed in CVC 21202 which basically says that a cyclist must ride as far to the right as “practicable”. The word practicable is used intentionally and is quite important. It essentially means that a cyclist must ride as far to right as he/she can, but only to the point that he/she can do it safely. CVC 21202 also addresses the situations when cyclists can ride further to the left in order to remain safe. These situations include avoiding hazardous or dangerous conditions on the road, when passing another cyclist or vehicle moving in the same direction, when turning left, when approaching a right-turn only lane (and the cyclist is going straight), or if the lane is too narrow to share with a motor vehicle. Cyclists can also ride on the left side of a one-way street. This section also comes as a surprise to many non-cyclists (as well as to some cyclists).
Contact Long Beach Cyclists for updated Traffic Skills course information. The following was published in April of 2008:
As roadways and bike trails become increasingly complex and congested, do you know all you need to know to safely ride a bicycle? Do you feel you know enough to teach your children how to ride cautiously and conspicuously while on their own? When you drive your car, are you confident on how to share the road with bicyclists?
The Long Beach Cyclists, Bikestation and the League of American Bicyclists invite you to answer YES to the above questions after attending a two-part Bicycle Education Road 1 course.
Road 1a
Who: League Cycling Instructors Chris Quint and Dominic Dougherty
What: Bicycling Street Skills, Classroom Lecture
When: April 30th, 6pm-9:30pm – (plenty of breaks)
Where: Main Library Meeting room (50 people max)
101 Pacific Ave., Long Beach, CA 90822
Prerequisite: None
Cost: FREE
Day 1 will be a classroom lecture open to anyone consisting of a PowerPoint presentation, flip-charts, hands-on, videos and lots of Q&A.
If you wish to continue on to Day 2, please sign up at the end of the class.
Road 1b
Who: League Cycling Instructors Chris Quint and Dominic Dougherty
What: Bicycling Street Skills, Bicycle Handling and Vehicular Cycling
When: May 4th, 9am-3pm – (plenty of breaks)
Where: Bikestation (15 people max)
221 E. First St., Long Beach, CA 90802
Prerequisite: Road 1a
Cost: $15 each
Bring: A bicycle and a helmet.
Road 1b will consist of parking lot drills, bike handling techniques, emergency manuevers, vehicular cycling, and some testing.
At the end of the day, those that have successfully completed the course will be presented with a certificate from the League of American Bicyclists.
Able to attend Road 1a and not Road 1b? Don’t worry! We’ll be having a lot more classes in the future. Your Road 1a attendance is good for 6 months so you can attend a Road 1b later on.
On our roadways, bikes are treated as vehicles. Simply knowing how to ride a bike is not the same as knowing how to operate a bike safely and legally.
The Bike Ed program is a set of curricula for adults and children and the certified instructors that teach it. BikeEd classes are taught across the United States by certified League Cycling Instructors (LCI).
For more information, email ddougherty(at)bikestation(dot)org
or visit http://www.bikeleague.org
